Playing for the first time on their artificial-surface home pitch, the Chillicothe High School soccer Lady Hornets got their 2013 season off to a cold start Wednesday.

In very cool conditions with a noteworthy north wind sweeping from one end of Bob Fairchild Field to the other, the Lady Hornets were shut down and out by the visiting Concordia: St. Paul Lutheran Lady Saints, 6-0, at Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium.

"This was a particularly strong St. Paul team which benefitted from having a talented group of Scandinavian transfers from overseas on their roster," third-year CHS head coach Lance Harvey said.

Opening the match playing into the strong headwind, the Lady Hornets defense was on its heels immediately as St. Paul sent a long pass deep into their territory and won the race for the ball to generate a great scoring opportunity which CHS senior goalkeeper Cyrsten Lollar denied.

Chillicothe's female booters are at home to play again Friday for a match against Kirksville. That action will see the junior-varsity play first at 4:30 p.m. with the varsity to follow at about 5:30-6:00.

Today's (March 21) schedule home track-and-field "time trials meet" with several smaller schools from the area was called off, Dan Nagel, CHS athletics director, announced at mid-morning. Nagel had indicated yesterday CHS coaches were wanting to go ahead with the meet despite the cold weather, but, with temperatures right around the freezing mark, the other participating schools apparently decided it wasn't worth the time and travel expense. Whether it will be rescheduled is uncertain, although it is believed that, with the move to the new Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium, Chillicothe officials would like to host a small meet as a trial run before the April 5 Joe Shy Relays.

Nagel is actively seeking additional volunteers – including some who would be willing to "run" field events – for the 16-school Shy Relays. Anyone who can help is asked to call him at 646-0700 during the school day.